New Orleans 2008

So, upon request I am posting a bit about New Orleans. Tim and I went there on June 16-20th. This is actually our second trip there. Our first visit was actually our honeymoon. Tim didn't want to take a honeymoon right away due to taking time off of work, so he said we'll take one later. We planned on going to Galena for a few days. My mom surprised me (Tim knew) with a trip to New Orleans because she wanted us to have some place special.

The first time we visited New Orleans (September 2007) it was pretty much back at full functionality, despite a few small shops that weren't able to open back up due to financial constraints and a few musuems still working the kinks out. I guess the biggest problem was getting people back in the city to get workers and businesses back to normal. On this last visit, everything was back in full swing. You wouldn't even know anything happened. We had never visited before the Katrina, so I wouldn't have known any better anyway. But it was actually very busy down there....and hot. With heat index I believe it was about 105. On this trip we saw things that we didn't get to see last time like the Cabildo (Louisana State Musuem), Audobon Zoo, lots of restaurants, karoke bars that we hadn't been to before. And I forgot to mention the bad part about this visit, I acquired a HORRIBLE cold upon arrival. Sore throat, no appetitie, sinus problems, nausea, chills, achey body...it was terrible. That kind of curbed our activities for two days. But, I'd be happy to answer any questions. Here are a few highlights in photos/video.

The stairs at the Cabildo. Built in 1795, location of the signing of the Louisana Purchase.

A lock of Andrew Jackson's hair.

The room (and original furniture) in which the Louisana Purchase was signed.

The pen (or quill) that signed the Louisana Purchase.

A view into the French Quarter from atop our hotel.

They were filming Mardi Gras while we were here. Its Carmen Electra!

Flamingos at the Audobon Zoo.

Asian Elephants at the Audobon Zoo.

Tim at I at Audobon Zoo. It was SO hot that day.

A scarf that belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte.

And I just thought this was cool. While walking back to the hotel about 9-10pm at night we stumbled upon "street performers". They were playing this New Orleans jazz music and it was amazing. They even had these women dancing. Actually, I think the women were doing it for fun. But while we were watching them, another group was marching by. I saw them coming from a distance and I was thinking, 'Uh oh, this can't be good'. I guess I have a Northern's mentality, because what I was predicting just is not New Orleans' style. The sitting group (in the video) stopped playing for the marching group, waved, and waited for them to pass. The marching group also waved. It was an awesome display of what New Orleans is and what they are about.

"Green" Trick

So it has been well over a month since I posted on here. And quite frankly, there have been things that I should have posted about. We went to New Orleans and I didn't talk about that. I should have done it right away, but I was too busy. And then it got later and later and I didn't feel like it anymore. I kind of redecorated our balcony and didn't post about that because it seemed a dumb reason to post. But, last night I finally got a REALLY GOOD reason to post. I haven't worked with Briggs in a while on training. But I was showing a friend the tricks he could do and I decided to try one that he had almost gotten. Wow, to my surprise he actually perfected it last night! I'll let you see for yourself what that is. Enjoy my little "green" trick. ;-)